Hi guys, I am back with another chapter. I hope you like this one because i had so much fun writing it.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

Reviews:

nihal27 - I'm so glad you agree with the speed as I was unsure of people's opinions

Matt - Yes I did take a RotG fic off my favourites as I had a purge of things I no longer read and took off quite a few fics.

Percy POV

As it turned out not all of my training sessions were with Nico, but I did manage to get them all to be with my friends. I was currently waiting to start combat training with Piper and Leo, we had come a few minutes early to set up.

Leo was putting out the training mats while Piper and I were dragging the dummies to one wall. "Hazel has the most beautiful dress." She was telling me all about the wedding she was planning with them. "It's traditional, obviously. You know how she is with older fashion and style; it has to be from before she died. But I've got to say it is very cute."

"It sounds amazing Pipes. Do you know when it will be?" I asked her.

"Well, it was supposed to be in three months, but they have said that they don't want it in the war, so if the titans haven't gone back to Tartarus by then, then the wedding will be postponed." She told me sadly. "It's a shame really, they've been together for more than a hundred years – they shouldn't have to wait any longer."

We carried on pulling the straw dummies over to the wall, it was silent for a while. Eventually, I got back to the store room to grab the last one.

Behind me I heard her mutter "I always thought that you would be the first of us to get married, not the last."

With a heaving sigh I turned to face her, leaving the dummy alone. "Why would you think that?" I asked, trying to keep the pain from my voice.

"It's, it's just you and Annabeth" I breathed in sharply as she said her name, but Piper pretended that she hadn't heard it. "You had already been together for more than a year when I first met you both, and it was so clear that you would do anything for each other. Di immortals, I mean you fell in to Tartarus just to be with her and then you stayed there to save her."

"Stop it!" I yelled, finally grabbing the dummy and storming past her out of the store room. I could hear her shouting after me, but I carried on with my task ignoring her the best I could.

However, she quickly caught up to me when I stopped to set the dummy down. "Percy," she started. Having nowhere else to go I finally turned to her.

"What Piper?" I seethed quietly, trying to control my rage. She looked startled but answered anyway. "What's wrong with you, surely you remember that you made her leave you?"

"Yeah, that's what she told you." I muttered. I could tell that our conversation had caught Leo's attention and that he was keeping his distance, but still listening. "I know what happened Piper. She cut a deal with the titans, they let her escape as long as I would be left behind. She traded her freedom for my life!" There were tears in my eyes, but I pushed on through the pain. "We, we could've made it out together. But instead, she tricked me into staying so that she could leave. She never loved me!"

A tear ran down my cheek and I saw that Piper's multi-coloured eyes were also glimmering with tears of her own. I had finally done it I had pushed someone away; it was bound to happen at some point, so I tried not to let it get to me.

But, instead of leaving she took a step closer to me and wrapped her arms around me. Startled, I froze looking down at the daughter of Aphrodite in shock.

Eventually she stepped away and looked up at me. "Percy, I know that is what Kronos told you," I flinched "but I promise you it's not true." I started to speak but she quickly cut me off. "I am a child of Aphrodite; I can tell when two people are in love, and I have never felt a bond like that between you and Annabeth."

"Yeah," Leo agreed, finally joining the conversation as he was done setting up. "you didn't see Annabeth when she got back to the Argo II. She was a mess." I look at him confused. I couldn't hear anything except honesty in his voice and yet, I knew that she should have been fine. Afterall she meant to leave me.

"No, no. It must have been an act." I told them. The son of Hephaestus just shook his head, "I'm telling you Percy. She didn't come out of her room for two days, and all we could hear was crying. Then even when she did come out, she looked awful, she barely ate, barely slept, barely even spoke to us."

"Leo is right Percy." Piper chimed in. "Even after we got back from the quest and the war was over, she never went back to normal, not until you came back. Not really. You might not even notice it now, but it took her years to get back into the swing of things and coping without you."

"I don't believe you; I know what happened and..." Piper cut me off. "I swear on the River Styx that everything we have just told you is true. Annabeth didn't mean to leave you, she loves you." The ground rumbled and I waited for her to be smited by the gods. But nothing happened.

She was telling the truth.

I was lost for words.

"There you see, it's true." Leo told me before turning away and heading back towards the benches where the campers were starting to come in and sit down.

Piper sent me one last smile and then went to join him. Leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Training had passed in a blur. All I could think about was what I had found out. Even afterwards I went to the beach and sat under the water – thinking.

Annabeth didn't leave me in Tartarus.

My friends didn't betray me.

They all still considered me a friend, it wasn't some big act to get me back on their side. They really wanted me around.

My friends wanted me to stay.

After a few hours, I still hadn't fully made sense of the situation. What I did know was that Lord Kr... the titan king, had lied to me. (Surprise, surprise.) And I had been dumb enough to believe him, but I didn't think anyone would blame me given the circumstances.

One thing that I couldn't figure out though was Annabeth.

In my head I knew that she had done nothing wrong to me, that I was the only one to blame for me being stuck in Tartarus. But, in my heart, it was hard to let go of the feeling that she had hurt me and caused me all that pain

I knew that I should probably apologise to her for the way I acted. But at the same time, I still didn't want to talk to her. Although I should probably stop hating her. Even if it was hard, I needed to be around her.

Just then I heard the sound of the conch shell rippling through the water. Without a moment's thought I said goodbye to the fish that had been milling around me and pushed off the sea bed, shooting through the water until I shot out of it and landed on the sand.

I startled the few people who had been on the beach, unaware that I was sat below the waves, and quickly apologised before heading to the pavilion for tea.

When I got there, I was greeted by the son of Hades. "Percy," he sighed in relief "I looked all over for you, but no one had seen you since training."

"Yeah sorry." I chuckled rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "I went for a swim; I had some things to think about." I explained while I took my place next to him at our table.

After the rest of the seven and Nico had been given immortality, they were also given their own table at the back of the pavilion. They could either sit together or with their siblings, but most of the time they chose to sit together.

Recently, I had been sitting with them all. Getting to know Hazel and Frank, as the Romans were currently staying at Camp Half-Blood, but mostly just sitting and listening to them all talk. I joined in occasionally.

Meanwhile Annabeth had been sitting with her sibling. I knew that she was trying to be nice and give me some space, but now after finding out that she hadn't done anything wrong to me. I felt bad for making her stay away from her friends.

So, when I saw her walk in, I steeled my nerves and sent her my best smile. The daughter of Athena beamed back at me, as if she had been waiting for me to do it, and practically skipped over to the table to sit at the other end near Piper.

Nico POV

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Percy smile at Annabeth at the start of tea. He couldn't even say her name a few days ago and now he was interacting with her. I would have to ask him what happened.

Well, they didn't talk to each other during the meal and sat at opposite ends of the table. But they were sat at the same table, and occasionally said things in the same conversation. Even if they hadn't spoken directly, it was progress. And I was excited to see it.

At least part of me was happy. The other part wondered, what if they started to get close again? Afterall they were the perfect couples back before Tartarus, what if Percy started to feel that again – Annabeth had never lost that feeling.

I tried to shake myself out of it. Reminding myself that it was very unlikely after how Percy had acted around her before and even if it did happen, it was Percy's choice not mine.

After tea Percy and I said our goodbyes to our friends and headed down to the cove, with Percy leading the way. I could tell there was a lot on his mind, and he was only half listening to me; there was a cloudy look to his sea-green eyes. So, I talked to him about trivial things. Mainly the young Hypnos camper who had given some particularly funny (but wrong) answers in monster class. The son of Poseidon just laughed along with me.

Eventually we reached the cove and Percy began to walk towards the water. I knew he needed some time to think about whatever was on his mind, so I settled down onto the sand to wait for him. But the son of the sea suddenly stopped and turned to look at me.

"Do you want to come with me?" He asked.

"W-what?" I spluttered. "Perce I don't think Uncle P would like me going in there."

"I'll be with you my father won't do anything. And besides, he's not like Zeus, he won't hurt you." he took a few steps back to me and held out his hand. "Do you trust me?"

I looked up into his hopeful eyes. Honestly, I really did want to see what it was like down there. I wanted to know why Percy loved it so much. But on the other hand, I wasn't as confident as he was that Poseidon would let me leave the sea unharmed.

One more look at his face though, and my worries shattered away. He was giving me the baby seal face. The big eyes and the pouty lip, I couldn't resist it. "Fine." I eventually said, getting to my feet. "But if I die it's on you."

He gave me a mocking serious face and then laughed, grabbing my hand and leading me into the sea.

To say the feeling of the water flowing around my legs, but not actually wetting me, was weird is an understatement. It almost tickled.

But Percy was confident in leading the way and only stopped when we were up to our shoulders in the water. "Are you ready?" He asked. "There's a small ledge just in front of me that we are going down. It's not deep but this is the point of no return."

I felt like saying I would wait for him and running back to the beach. But with Percy holding on to me, I knew I would be ok.

"I'm ready." I told him after a moment, and with no further warning he grinned at me and stepped backwards; falling over the ledge and pulling me with him.

To say that I was terrified would be an understatement. But after only a few seconds of falling through the water I felt my feet touch the sea bed. Looking up I could see the faint outline of the moon casting a pale glow down to us.

But even then, I could barely see Percy's ecstatic face. He quickly realised that I couldn't see as well as he could and pulled out Riptide. He uncapped the pen and the bronze glow from the celestial bronze filled the water around us.

The light didn't go far but it did mean that I could see the son of Poseidon's face clearly and see the area surrounding us. It was beautiful.

Sholes of brightly coloured fish swam closer to us and stopped to greet the Sea Prince, who smiled and answered all their questions. I was amazed, dumb-struck even.

Seeing Percy here, it was like he had never been gone. His hair floated around his face and he smiled casually. Entirely comfortable. It was the first time I had seen him this way in a hundred years.

"What?" He asked, feeling my gaze on his face.

"It's beautiful." I told him, not taking my eyes off him.

"I know!" he ginned, pulling me to sit on the floor. He then proceeded to tell me all about the fish around us, I wasn't really that interested in it, but I was happy to listen to him as he seemed to fill with energy. (Which being in water he probably did.) He was like a hyperactive child.

Eventually, there was a break in conversation and we just sat; taking in the silence.

"Percy," I started, gaining his attention. "I know this might be a weird question but what happened with you and Annabeth? "

He sighed and faced me properly, I knew I had found what was bothering him.

"Before our class today, Leo and Piper told me how Annabeth was after I got trapped in Tartarus. They swore on the Styx that she had missed me and loved me and that I had sacrificed myself for her."

"What is wrong with that?" I asked him, not finding the issue.

"It's not an issue in itself." he told me "It's just that I still feel like she did something wrong and dislike her, but I know that isn't true so I should be nice to her." He flopped down next to me and put his head on my shoulder. "I don't know what to do."

I tried to calm my racing heart as I told him. "You don't have to do anything. But" I continued before he but interrupt me. "if I were you, I would try to slowly get to know her again, in the same way you are with everyone else. Start from the beginning again."

He looked deep into my dark eyes, studying them.

Eventually he said, "You are probably right. Thanks, Neeks." I grinned at him. "Now we should probably be getting back." He told me. I quickly realised that we had been under water for a very long time and agreed with him.

I stood up and pulled him up with me. (I was still holding on to him so that he could keep me dry and breathing.) "Hold on to me tightly." Percy instructed.

It was strange but I didn't try to argue and just wrapped my arms around him. As soon as the son of Poseidon felt me holding on to him properly, he bent his knees and pushed off the ocean floor.

We didn't move too quickly, but it was certainly faster than swimming the whole way up. In just a few minutes we broke the surface. From there the two of us found are footing and waded back to the shore.

"That was amazing Percy." I told him sincerely, I had truly enjoyed being in my uncles realm much more than I expected.

"I'll make sure to take you back when it's light. There is so much more for you to see." Percy promised, beaming down at me.

"We should be getting back. People will be wondering where we are." I reluctantly turned and finally let go of his hand. But I didn't get far when Percy grabbed my hand again and pulled me back to him.

"Nico I" he started. But I quickly zoned out realising I had stumbled to stand mere inches away from his face, the star light making it glow. I couldn't help myself.

I stretched up and kissed him.

My mind went into overdrive as my heart exploded. Just as I was about to deepen the kiss, I pulled back. I realised that Percy hadn't moved, he just stood there dumb-struck.

"I'm so sorry." I cried in panic, stepping away from him. "I don't know what came over me, I was just so close. Don't worry about it. Forget it ever happened." I was still walking away from him. But the son of the sea just stayed there. Unmoving. "I'll just go." I turned around and began to flee the cove.

"Nico!" A voice finally called from behind me. But I didn't stop moving. "Nico! Stop!"

Percy quickly caught up to me and pulled me to a stop.

"Neeks, talk to me." He pleaded.

"Just let me leave Percy. Forget it." I asked him. Percy didn't move.

Eventually, I turned around to face him.

His green eyes were shining, though I couldn't tell with what emotion. I just hoped that he wouldn't hate me after what I did.

"I'm sorry Percy, can you please just"

"Shut up Nico." Percy interrupted. This was it. He hated me.

"And kiss me again."

My eyes lit up but I didn't waste a second in pressing forwards to meet his lips with my own.

It was as if there was an explosion in my head as Percy suddenly pressed back against me to deepen the kiss. Not too powerful but the perfect balance of tenderness and passion.

I walked forwards pushing the son of Poseidon back against the rocks. I heard a sharp intake of breath, but he didn't pause for a moment.

Nico and Percy are together! YAY! Finally! (Just saying I have nothing against Percabeth, just it makes sense to have Nico and Percy together in this way)

Anyway, please let me know what you think in the reviews, I love to hear from you. It really does make my day. - PLease no hate on Percy x Nico though.

That's all for now. See ya.